The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has awarded the first tender for a major land parcel under the Northern Metropolis flagship project to HSK New Development Ltd.

The successful tenderer scored highest in both the non-premium and premium criteria, with its HK$1.03 billion ($131.39 million) bid for the site located in the Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen New Development Area, the Development Bureau announced on Monday.

The winning consortium estimates that the implementation of the entire large-scale land disposal project will involve about HK$16.8 billion and create more than 6,000 jobs.

The six shareholders of the consortium are the subsidiaries of China Overseas Land and Investment Ltd, China Merchants Land Ltd, China Resources Land Ltd, China Tourism Group Corp Ltd, JD.com Inc and Sino Land Co Ltd.

As the first large-scale land disposal tender in the Northern Metropolis, the pilot project covers nearly 11 hectares (110,000 square meters), representing a significant investment over a long development cycle.

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“The consortium of the successful tenderer encompasses not only major enterprises that have long participated in local real estate development, but also market leaders that are well-established in other industries with undeniable experience and capability,” Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said, adding that this demonstrates that a large-scale land disposal project can facilitate cooperation across different business sectors.

The six enterprises have pooled their strengths and joined forces to cast a vote of confidence through concrete action, setting a new course for the diversified development in the Northern Metropolis, she said.

The successful tenderer will be responsible for forming and developing three residential sites, yielding around 3,000 flats in total and completing site formation for a smart modern logistics center on an enterprise and technology park (E&TP) site with a permissible gross floor area (GFA) up to 50,950 sq m.

The center will adopt a modern, high-quality design with JD serving as the leading enterprise. It will commence operations with at least 15,300 sq m of GFA within 55 months, well ahead of the minimum requirement of 96 months in the tender documents.

The Development Bureau said the three residential sites and one E&TP site — HSK Town Lot Nos 18 to 21 — spanning a total area of about 3.6 hectares, will be leased to the successful tenderer for a term of 50 years.

The HSK New Development will also be responsible for forming the remaining sites in the HSK pilot area. Among them, two E&TP sites — HSK Town Lot Nos 23 and 24 — and a site for a government facility must have their site formation completed and be handed back to the SAR government by 2028.

Also, the tenderer will construct an open space, a pedestrian street and a footpath, which must be completed and handed back to the government no later than 2033, added the bureau.

“After the successful tenderer completes the site formation and hands back the sites to the government, the government will grant the two mentioned E&TP sites of 4.5 hectares directly to Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Co Ltd, which is wholly owned by the government, for development of superstructure and operation,” said Linn.